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Fifth Step attended the Monte Carlo 2018 Rendezvous to get the lowdown on what is happening in the complex world of reinsurance. The major story from our point of view was that Lloyd’s would reject any syndicate business plans that do not show a reduction in expenses for 2019, according to performance management director Jon Hancock who was talking to Insurance Insider magazine.
Corporate Social Responsibility really is an area that the financial services sector and (re)insurers in particular need to improve. According to the Reputation Institutes’ 2017 CSR report there are no (re)insurance companies in the top 100 companies globally and the finance industry receives a special mention in the report saying that it is falling behind all other sectors with respect to CSR. I was asked to write an article for Insurance Day on this subject, which you can read.
In my last two blogs that reviewed the release of the 2018 Harvey Nash CIO survey I reflected on how amazing it is to think how far technology has advanced in the last two decades. In this concluding blog I want to focus on the importance of the customer. As the survey says: “As technology has changed, so too has its focus: once it was all about internal operations, now it's more about the customer; once the budget was controlled by one or two executives, now spend is undertaken by a broader range of stakeholders.”
In world of changing digital priorities for CIOs, many IT leaders are asking themselves: “how can I make strategy happen?” The next question to ask is how am I going to align my responsibilities and the demands on my team with the needs of the business?
As Harvey Nash celebrates the release of its 20th CIO Survey, it is amazing to think how far technology has advanced in the last two decades. The survey says: “As technology has changed, so too has its focus: once it was all about internal operations, now it's more about the customer; once the budget was controlled by one or two executives, now spend is undertaken by a broader range of stakeholders; once the IT leader was called 'CIO' or 'IT Director', now technology leadership is found in a wide range of places.”
No matter if your organisation is based in the UK or in mainland Europe, reading the press at the moment it is difficult not to be confronted by regular stories covering the full range of Brexit emotions, from Brexit will change very little right the way through to nothing will be the same again. I was recently asked to pen an article for the June issue of COBCO Magazine: Make Europe work, to explain how business can be prepared in an environment that is so dynamic and undecided.
The impact of economic losses in Hong Kong caused by malicious cyber attackers could amount to US$32 billion (HKS249.6 billion) annually –10 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product – according to a new study. Large organisations with more than 500 employees could suffer average losses of US$24.9 million.
Amongst those offering post-Brexit guidance is Darren Wray, CEO of business management consultancy Fifth Step and author of The Brexit Readiness Guide who was talking to Continuity Insurance and Risk magazine. He notes that companies in sectors such as financial services aren’t deterred by uncertainty, but have commenced preparations prompted by the Bank of England’s stress testing and Brexit readiness regulations.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the European Union’s data protection regulation which has come into force last week.
Under the GDPR, there are two primary types of data user: first is the data controller, the person or company that decide and defines the purpose and data that is collected and processed. Second is the data processor, which is anyone (other than employees or direct subcontractors of the company) who processes the data on behalf of the data controller.
Fifth Step has collaborated with XCD to bring you with a vast amount of content regarding GDPR. We aim to explain and provide information on what is needed to help HR be in control of GDPR.
Business management consultant says while financial service industry is ahead of most, some companies are still way behind where they should be when it comes to GDPR, writes Darren Wray in Insurance Times magazine.
Information security and data privacy is something that is still very much maturing. In some senses we are playing catch-up with the ingenuity of hackers to exploit the weaknesses that exist in current systems. Writing for Insurance Day recently, I asked: "In this increasingly technological business environment, where intellectual property is created, shared, stored and utilised almost entirely digitally, how should firms go about maximizing the ability to create, leverage and protect their intellectual property?"
All in all, the GDPR should be of significant concern to anyone in the insurance industry, but where should you start if you aren’t yet prepared? “First of all, businesses need to understand the type of data they are dealing with, but even before that – given that time is so short – they should get an assessment,” Darren Wray, CEO of Fifth Step and GDPR author, told Insurance Business magazine.
Fifth Step's Darren Wray will provide an overview of GDPR, but with less than 100 days to go until enforcement, firms are encountering issues and have questions that they need to get some guidance on.